Dudley's Rose
by kadedeetje
Summary: Oh boy ! Dudley's daughter is a witch. Will he turn on her or will he surprise Harry ? Short story based on a BertaS bunny.
1. Prologue

**Dudley's Rose**

AN

Been stuck for several weeks on next HBPR chapter but read the prologue-bunny posted on the Sisters_of_the_writestuff yahoo goup (of sisters Loralee and BertaS) by BertaS and couldn't write fast enough once I put pen to paper.

Anyway, Berta S left just the prologue part with following A/N:

_I have no idea where this came from and there doesn't seem to be any more. If someone would like to use this as a start I would be interested to see how it turns out. BertaS_

As I said, I read it, and the idea got stuck in my head. The following chapters are the result of several days of ignoring the bunny and then taking it by its ears and going along with it.

Short Story – pairing HP+GW

Prologue

"Mum?"

The tall thin woman galloped to the front hall, "Oh Diddy, you're here." She wrapped her arms as far around the portly young man as she could reach, hugging him tightly.

Dudley Dursley hugged his mother back. "Hi, Mum." He lived less than an hour away, was married and had a two year old daughter. He visited his mum nearly every weekend, but Petunia still acted as though he were a twelve year old.

When she released her son she immediately looked around for her granddaughter, "Where's my little Rosey-Posey?"

"She has a bit of a sniffle and Heather decided to keep her home this week." Dudley said rather nervously. "I can't stay long. I…" he took a deep breath, "Do you know how to contact Harry."

Petunia gave him a sharp look. "Why on earth would you need to do that?"

Sighing Dudley's shoulders slumped, "Rose…" he almost sobbed, "My little Rose is a Freak." He leaned against the wall, "She made her teddy fly through the air." He did sob this time, "What else am I supposed to do? I can't give her away and I can't treat her like you did Harry. I just can't." He wiped his face, "I love her."


	2. Chapter 1

**Dudley's Rose**

Short Story following a little teaser on Sisters_of_the_writestuff yahoo goup (of sisters Loralee and BertaS) by BertaS with following A/N:

_I have no idea where this came from and there doesn't seem to be any more. If someone would like to use this as a start I would be interested to see how it turns out. BertaS_

As of here it's mine (or better JKR's, but I played around with it).

Chapter One

Not five minutes after, a still shocked Dudley sat in his car as realisation hit that Heather, little Rose and he now really were all alone in this world. Not believing the expletives and swear words his mother had uttered in between the stream of words betraying her frustration and pent up anger at Harry, Freaks in general and his own innocent little girl in particular he had tried to reason some with her, but the speed with which his mother had ejected him out of the house and slammed the door in his face had left no doubt about her conviction. That, combined with his own shock at both discoveries of the last few days had sent him back to his car rather meekly.

Home again with his wife and daughter he was able to look at things a bit clearer and as usual it was Heather with her positiveness who cleared the issue into nothingness. Together they'd survive anything. Looking back at the time since meeting Heather Dudley couldn't help but agree.

He'd met Heather the summer before his last year at Smeltings. Just the day after he had surprised not only himself, but his parents and cousin Harry by actually shaking the latter's hand when he'd said goodbye for the last time. Harry had turned seventeen, the legal age in the Wizarding World and had left to stay with his friends for the remainder of the summer. With his majority the protective wards (or whatever they'd called them at the time) would be annulled, so staying with them would now just bring danger to all instead of protection.

As Harry had brought his trunk from his bedroom, remarkebly easily now he could use magic to do so, the three of them had just stood and watched. His cousin had obviously been struggling within himself but in the end had turned back to them and said goodbye. When trying to say more, his mother had cut him off rather rudely and nearly pushed him out of the house, but as Harry'd turned to walk away, it was Dudley who'd offered his hand in farewell and who'd wished him well in the future.

To this day Dudley had no idea why he'd done that, and he was certain his own face mirrored the look of shock on not only his parents' faces but Harry's as well. Harry however had reacted in kind and his parting words had come back in the months following.

The very next day, 1 August 1997, at five past two in the afternoon, Dudley had met Heather in the shopping centre. With four more weeks to the summer holidays his usual gang of friends were all still off vacationing with their families, and Dudley'd been loitering in the shopping centre on his own, when he'd seen Heather. She was manning the counter at the book store (most likely the reason he'd never seen her before) and something about her had stirred something deep inside of him making him go up to her and invite her for a date.

She'd been polite the first several times he'd gone and asked her out again and again, to be turned down politely each time. It was only on what he later learned to be her last working day for the summer that she had turned not nasty but scathing about him, his character and his friends.

Her parting shot he would need to do a 180 degree overhaul on himself before she'd consider ever going out with him, had remained in his brain for the longest time. Together with Harry's words they'd marked the change in him. Maybe there was hope for Dudley to become his own man rather than an even worse copy of Vernon.

His first few days back at Smeltings Dudley had gone about his usual routine of pestering the smaller students, but he no longer found the perverse pleasures of before. Instead he'd grown more and more upset at his own behaviour and it had taken his getting ill for the third time in two weeks time for the school nurse to get a counsellor involved. The three sessions he'd had had a positive outcome, but the Christmas Holiday he'd spent back at home, where he'd felt forced to revert to his old ways had undone any progress. The following six months however, with two sessions a week had finally resulted in a more mature Dudley to return home, one now much more capable to withstand his parents influence and who was rebellious for al the right reasons.

One of his first actions when back had been to see Heather at the Shopping Centre. She had returned to her job at the bookstore and one evening Dudley had showed up to apologise and offer her a bunch of flowers. Heather had ended up inviting him out that evening, intringued as she was by his change. By the end of the summer they had officially been a couple.

When Vernon had insisted Dudley join the company, he had rebelled and had actually threathened to simply walk out of the house never to return. Instead his parents had very reluctantly allowed him to do a two-year computer course but their insistence he'd be home each evening, even if the school was two hours and a half away from home had made things difficult.

So when Dudley's first school project – designing a game – had caught a proper gaming company's attention, he had found himself the means to actually do it his way. He found lodgings with friends of Heather's grandparents, an equally elder couple. He paid them a little money and helped them out with the heavier chores around the house, for room and board, and the part time job with the developers of the gaming company got him a very nice amount of pocket money.

He returned home about once a month over the weekend and each time came home to the Walker's farmhouse glad that was over for another month. By the time his computer course ended he'd earned himself a degree and a job and a steady income from the rights to his very own computer game.

Heather in the mean time had tried her hands at English Lit at University but quickly found that life away from her grandparents didn't really suit her, so she returned home, reapplied and got the job in the bookstore and started on her studies via an Open University course.

As soon as Dudley had finished his course the two had gotten engaged and set a date for their wedding, very much with Heather's grandparents' blessing. The Dursley's on the other hand had very much been against it. Heather's parents had died in a car crash when she was still very young. Her grandparents had brought her up, and although they'd been far from poor, had brought her up in a more modest way than the ostentatious show of wealth that had been the norm in the Dursley household. Petunia (and thus Vernon too) therefore had the notion Heather came from a poor family and she just wouldn't have her precious Duddykins lower himself that much.

Dudley however had stood his ground and had married his beloved. It had taken the announcement that Heather was pregnant to smooth over the troubled relationship with his parents. Baby Rose had been born mid May just over two years ago, and sadly later that same year both Heather's grandparents had died within a day of each other. In their nineties and with failing health especially so on her grandfather's part it had come as no immediate surprise but the sudden loss of both of them had hit hard both for Heather and Dudley. Unlike at his parents', Dudley had been welcomed in the family and he had learned for the first time what family life really was all about.

When Rose had made her teddy fly through the air the first time last week Dudley had been alone with her and at first had wanted to deny seeing it even to himself, but a second occurance with the same teddy in Heather's presence had Dudley explaining about Harry and his real life, opposed to the lies started up by his parents.

It was on Tuesday, a little over a week after the fiasco at his parents' place when Dudley had his lucky break. Now, some three years after starting his job for the gaming company Dudley had made quite a name for himself, with several successful games, co-authorship of several others and general de-bugger for other people's work. He worked from his home office a lot but at least once every two weeks he would head for the offices which were situated nearly two hours from their home. So this particular Tuesday Dudley had left home at an ungodly early hour and due to a traffic accident involving a truck that blocked most of the road was now at only a few miles from the office severely stuck in traffic. The traffic lights just up ahead changed to green but only a few cars were able to drive on, leaving him stuck at the wrong end of the lights. Just up ahead from the depths of the tube station a whole bunch of youngsters in their school uniform erupted onto the side walk and that's when it hit him.

Ten days from now on 30 June the students from Hogwarts would arrive at King's Cross station and, waiting for them, a lot of parents both normal and fr-wizards themselves. Even though he wouldn't see Harry in person, surely someone would be able to help him to contact him ?

The next few days saw Dudley trying to write a letter to Harry but he was about to give up when Heather once again came to the rescue and told him to let the words come from within, rather than trying to polish his words left, right and center. After that it didn't take long to fill several pages full.

At six o'clock on 30 June Dudley could be found leaning against the pillar between platforms 9 and 10, as the only thing he knew was that about here the kids would suddenly appear. All of a sudden the wall behind him vanished and he fell backwards. How he'd managed to stay upright he had no idea but he found himself in a smaller but equally grand station. There was just one track with a large platform area on one side of the track, to the other side the large space that could house at least 3 more tracks and sizeable platforms to separate them lay barren. To the side of the platform he could see several large fireplaces and it took him a moment to realise they could be used for travelling rather than for lighting a fire.

He had been so busy looking around that Dudley hadn't noticed the small man that had appeared by his side. He had gray-white whisps of hair and his face was wrinkled as a shrivelled up apple and the man looked at least a hundred but his voice was still powerful if rather laced with a heavy accent.

"Bit early, ain't you ?"

"Oh, well I'm not really here to collect a kid, but I hoped someone could help me to contact someone."

"Oy, and how do ya know bout us then eh?"

"My cousin went to the school. It's him I want to send a letter to. Would you know how someone like me can do that ? I don't have his current address, see ?"

"Don't know myself, but Professor Weasley will be able to help. I'll make sure he checks in before leaving. Here take a seat it'l be another half hour before he's free. The train'll arrive in a few minutes."


	3. Chapter 2

**Dudley's Rose**

Short Story following a little teaser on Sisters_of_the_writestuff yahoo goup (of sisters Loralee and BertaS) by BertaS with following A/N:

_I have no idea where this came from and there doesn't seem to be any more. If someone would like to use this as a start I would be interested to see how it turns out. BertaS_

As of here it's mine (or better JKR's, but I played around with it).

Chapter two

Six o'clock on 30 June saw Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and the Man-Who-Vanquished-the-Dark-Lord, striding down the Ministry of Magic hallways. Today's weekly Wizengamot session had ended early, what with several members having to meet the Hogwarts Express to pick up their kids. He on the other hand was on his way to the office of Arthur Weasley – dad, he corrected himself - to deliver the invitation to dinner for Sunday a week from now.

As he was walking past the first department within the Ministry where sweeping changes had taken place after Voldemort's death he heard his name being called and as he looked around saw his long time friend and sister-in-law Hermione waving at him.

"Harry, do you have a moment, I'd like to show you something ?"

"Sure Hermione, I can deliver Arthur and Molly's invitation at the Burrow later."

"Come into my office then Harry, it might come as a bit of shock ..."

Intrigued at Hermione's strange behaviour, he followed her to her office at the back of the Department of Magical Family Affairs.

"A few weeks ago," Hermione started, "a new name appeared on the register for muggleborn wizards and witches. You may not be aware, but the register also mentions the nearest witch or wizard relation if any for these muggleborns. Your mother's name came up as closest known magical relation for the baby, and upon seeing its name I was not too surprised, as the name was Rose May Dursley."

Harry was startled at his mother's mention in the link but was even more surprised at learning that Dudley was her father.

"Am I right in thinking this is Dudley's baby ?" he quickly asked.

"Yes, Harry, but the link with the magical world wasn't actually through your cousin, but through its mother's family !"

Harry looked up, clearly showing his disbelief and astonishement.

"But how can that be ?" Dudley's my cousin, isn't he ?"

"In a way he is, but it's only through adoption. For magical purposes he is, just like his wife in fact, your second cousin."

"Second cousin ? That's ... I can't think, Hermione. How distant is this relation then?"

"Here." Hermione said and she pulled a parchment from the top drawer of her desk and placed it in front of him. "I took the liberty of looking up your family history and this is a simple representation of them."

Looking at the chart, which in fact represented the family trees of Harry, Dudley and his Heather, he could see that with his tree in the middle, branches connected him with Dudley through his grandmother and with Heather through his grandfather, the parents of Lily, his mum.

Hermione was tracing the lines on the chart as she explained.

"Both Heather, that's Dudley's wife, and Dudley himself are related through the sibling of one of your maternal grandparents. Lily's mother, your grandmother Marianne was the sister of Dudley's grandfather John Summerville. John and his wife had one daughter, Petunia, when they died in a car crash. Petunia's aunt and her husband, your grandparents, adopted her and she took on her new last name of Evans.

Your grandfather Edward Evans in turn had a sister Katherine who married Howard Hampton. They had one son, Jack who married Rose Smith. The couple had one daughter Heather and were both killed in a car crash when the girl was four. She grew up with her grandparents."

The only thing that struck Harry in the story he'd just been told was the irony that not his parents but Petunia's own parents had died in a car crash. The only words to come out were "That's an awful lot of accidents there !"

Half past six on this same 30 June saw Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived and the Man-Who-Vanquished-the-Dark-Lord stumble out of the large fireplace in his home at Godric's Hollow to be met with a "Oh dear, you've heard !" from the other occupant of the house.


	4. Chapter 3

**Dudley's Rose**

Short Story following a little teaser on Sisters_of_the_writestuff yahoo goup (of sisters Loralee and BertaS) by BertaS with following A/N:

_I have no idea where this came from and there doesn't seem to be any more. If someone would like to use this as a start I would be interested to see how it turns out. BertaS_

As of here it's mine (or better JKR's, but I played around with it).

Chapter three

"Who told you ? Haven't they heard of ..."

"Hermione"

"... patient confidentiality ? What gave them the right .."

"Hang on, what does patient confidentiality have to do with this ?"

"Hermione ? But how did she find out ? I only came home an hour ago!"

"Ginny? What's wrong ? Are you ill ? Is it bad ?"

"You mean, you don't know ?" Not yet, anyway ? Oh dear, what a mess. What happened ?"

"What do you mean, what happened ? Ginny, please, are you OK ? Why didn't you tell me you were feeling ill ?"

"Because, silly, it is normal. And I'm new to this, so I wanted to be certain and asked the more experienced healer if I was correct. She confirmed my diagnosis, told me to go home and make my husband the happiest wizard on earth."

Harry looked utterly gobsmacked, not knowing what to make of Ginny's words. She took pity on him and spelled it out.

"We, my darling husband, can expect an addition to the family in the second half of January. You are going to be a daddy !"

The next thing Ginny knew she was scooped up in her husband's loving arms and she was being tenderly held as her strong husband nearly wept with happiness. The next moment he was anxiously looking at her as if he would be able to detect any problem that way. Still smiling she answered his unasked questions by saying. "The healer said I'm perfectly fine, to keep up the good diet of fresh fruit and veg and limit the flooing and especially apparating from Halloween onwards. Madame Pomfrey has agreed to be my Medi-Witch for the pregnancy and we can go anytime on either Tuesday or Wednesday next week for a first formal check up."

Further conversation was cut short as emerald green flames shot up in the fireplace and Percy stepped out.

"Good evening Harry, Ginny, sorry to arrive unannounced but I'm just here on a flying visit to make a special delivery. You will never guess who was waiting for the Express in King's Cross, Harry. Dudley Dursley was there, he wanted to know how he as a muggle could contact and write a witch or wizard, so I told him about the usual procedure with the Post Owl Office but when I saw he had the letter there and with your name on it I said I'd deliver it in person."

With that he handed the letter to Harry, called out a cheerful "Cheerio" and with a flick of his hand used more floo powder and returned home to his wife Penelope and their two children.

Ginny in the mean time took control of her slightly dazed husband and steered him to the nearest couch, pushed him down on it and nestled herself right next to him. They silently sat like that for several minutes and when Ginny felt him relax into her embrace she was about to ask the questions that by now were fighting to get out when Harry himself started to talk.

"Hermione wanted to talk about a new appearance on the list of Muggleborns. It seems like Dudley has a two year old daughter who is magical. The thing is that Rose, that's the girl, is related to me through her mother rather than through Dudley. Hermione did some research ..."

Harry stopped for a moment to smile along as Ginny couldn't control the small giggle that came up as he mentioned Hermione's research.

" and found out that aunt Petunia was in fact adopted. She was my mum's cousin instead of her sister, making Dudley my second cousin. And it turns out that Heather, that's Dudley's wife, is also my second cousin but from the other branch."

After a few moments of silence, Harry continued.

"I wonder if aunt Petunia knew she was adopted, or if and when she found out. Maybe she knew all along and that was why she was so angry at and maybe even jealous of my mum ?"

"So, what do you think Dudley wants from you ?"

"I'm hoping that he's asking for advice and maybe a little help. Uncle Vernon would have just dropped me off at the orphanage, so him going to the trouble to contact me seems positive. Or maybe I'm just too optimistic ?", he thought aloud.

He sat tapping the letter on his knee for a few moments longer and, having decided there was no time like right then and there to read it, opened the letter and found it even more surprising than he could have hoped for.

_Dear Harry_

_I'm sorry for being such a terrible git when we were younger. I realise no matter how often or ho much I apologise it cannot undo all the harm I caused you (and others). I can but hope that the knowledge that I did change may help a little towards you forgiving the younger me._

_Profound thanks are definitely also in order, Harry. I shocked all four of us when you left Privet Drive on your 17th birthday and wished you well. Your parting words however have had a severe impact on me, and together with another verbal kick in the behind delivered mere weeks after yours they have made me into this mature and better Dudley. _

The letter continued for several more computer printed pages detailing Dudley's journey into responsible adulthood and only in the last paragraph made mention of the real reason for writing.

_The timing of this letter is most suspicious I know. Truth is you are my last personal failure. From early on in my relationship with Heather I have begun to realise that no matter how much I change I would like your personal approval of the man I have become. Only up to now I didn't have enough guts to actually seek you out. But now that my darling daughter is showing signs of being a magical child I can but ask you for your help, if not in person than please through any of your friends or acquaintances. Any advice on how to help her with this gift will be much appreciated. _


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

At ten o'clock on 1 July invisible and feeling more than a bit guilty for what he was about to do Harry apparated to Dudley's home. The house itself was already a huge surprise, probably because Harry had somehow imagined Dudley to live in a replica of his parents' home in Little Whinging. Instead of the neat and tidy place, identical to all those around it, the house was originally a smallish farmer's cottage that had additions to it as the prosperity of the farmer had grown over the following decades and the current result was a charming rambling home.

He popped inside, unheard and unseen by the occupants of the house as he wanted to see for himself that Dudley had indeed changed. It didn't take long to put his mind at ease, the interaction of the three family members vastly different from life at Privet Drive. He popped back home, after seeing little Rose even more aware of the family connection, and gathered a few more items before phoning his cousin to arrange a visit.

"Good morning, Dursley residence."

"Good morning Mrs Dursley, Harry Potter speaking ..."

Before Harry could say more, Heather Dursley rushed in with a happy greeting.

"Oh Harry, I mean Mr Potter, I'm so happy you called. Dudley was quite uncertain if you would, and certainly not so soon."

"Well Mrs Dursley ..."

"Oh, please do call me Heather, Mr Potter."

"OK Heather, as long as you call me Harry then. It would be very childish of me not to call you after that letter Dudley wrote. In fact I called to find out if now was a good moment to come over. Would that work for you ?"

"No problem. How long will it take you to get here ?"

"Well, if you don't mind my apparating in, I could be there in less than a minute."

"Really? You can do that ? Will Rose be able to do that too ?"

Harry had to laugh at her enthusiasm and said he'd explain when he arrived, said a "See you in a moment." And put the phone down, turned to Ginny to give her a kiss and took the photo album, the family tree, the list of phone numbers and the copy of the draft of the book Hermione had written in view of a possible new Muggleborn Family Liaison Project that the Dursley's, if willing, would help test and apparated back to his cousins' place.

As he arrived he found Heather standing in the doorway and it was apparent she's seen him arrive as she was staring at him with awe.

"Wow, that does put a different meaning to the phrase "popping in", doesn't it?"

Harry smiled as he walked closer to her and stuck out his hand as he came closer, saying "It does rather ! Hello, you must be Heather, I'm Harry." But rather than just shaking hands Heather leaned closer and hugged him, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She then blushed and said by way of explanation "I was always jealous of my friend with a large family of siblings and cousins that I couldn't help myself."

They moved into the kitchen cum dining room and Heather filled the kettle and put it on for some tea, all the while explaining that Dudley had taken Rose for a short trip to the village shop and that she expected them back any minute.

"It's going to be awkward at first, but he'll be so happy. He's done his best to become a much better person, but no matter how many of his friends have said he has changed it's your approval he wants and needs the most."

Before Harry could respond to that little emotional bombshell, the back door banged open, and Dudley said loudly, a clearly happy Dudley at that.

"Heather, you'll never guess what happened ! Rose spotted those cookies she likes and the next thing I know a box of them fly from the shelf into her hands, right in front of this young guy who was walking through the aisle. I was trying to think up a good excuse, but he comes up to me, asks me if my name happens to be Dudley, introduces himself as Colin Creevey and tells me he and his brother did the same when they were young, then hands me his card and tells me to phone after the 14th, because they're just off for a holiday and that Harry had already talked to him and a few friends about us !"

Harry had to smile as he heard the monologue coming from the room next door, mingled with the chatter from a young child, the sound of unbuckling a safety harnesses, tiny feet running their way as Heather replied.

"He did more than just phoning his friends, Dudley."

"He did ? How do you know ? Did he phone here ?"

"I came over myself, Dudley. I hope that's OK with you ?" said Harry.

They could hear a bag falling on the floor and little Rose, who'd made it to the doorway, turned around and giggled, said "silly daddy" and walked on, box of cookies clutched proudly in her small hands.

Dudley was quick in entering the kitchen too, but stood stock still again once he spotted Harry. So Harry got up, walked the few steps towards his cousin and gave him a hug, as he did with his brothers-in-law and closest friends and said "Thank you, Dudley, for giving me back a bit of family." Dudley hugged Harry in return and said, clearly emotional "Thank you for wanting me back in the first place, Harry."

"Ehh, Dudley, Heather, there's actually more to this than you know. My friend Hermione did some research and found out that ... Wait, I'm telling this all wrong, let me restart."

So Harry told them about Rose's appearance on the list of Muggleborns, the link with his mum, but through Heather, Hermione's discoveries and how Heather too, turned out to be related. He showed them Hermione's basic family tree and then got out the family photo album he'd found in his parents' vault upon his majority and said to Heather "I'm thinking you might recognise some of the people in these photo's."

As Heather, along with Harry, was discovering well known and treasured photos as well as quite a number of new pictures of her parents and grandparents, Dudley, who was sitting on Harry's other side upon seeing his own parents amongst those depicted suddenly realised why his mother had so venomously spoken about his daughter. The striking resemblance between Rose, a young Lily and even Heather's grandmother Katherine Evans was unmistakable and would have been a sore point for Petunia who looked a lot like the woman they all assumed to be Petunia's mother.

They ended up having a lot to think and talk about so they ordered take away from the local pub and it was after a delicious lunch that Harry explained about the Muggleborn Family Liaison Project they were thinking to introduce. He told them about the idea to contact parents of the new muggleborns, like Dudley and Heather, early on, as soon as possible after the first manifestation of magic in their child, and explaining about magic, giving them the book to read and consult when required, but also set them up with several contacts in their area of both muggle and magical parents.

The next several weeks were happy days for all four adults involved. Heather and Ginny got on like a house on fire and Dudley and Harry had several serious talks about the past and Dudley's parents. Heather had a fountain of information and stories for Harry about not only her own grandparents but also of his, from the stories her grandmother had told her when she was little and together they were able to put quite a few names on the pictures in Harry's photo albums.


	6. Epilogue

Epilogue

Two o'clock 31 July 2005 found Harry Potter, Birthday Boy, taking position near the apparition point in the garden to welcome his many incoming guests. Inside Ron had taken position near the floo to help keeping the necessary space free for all the guests expected arriving that way, and Ginny and Hermione had front door duty to welcome those coming by muggle transport – not all of them muggles either, as quite a few witches were expecting and thus unable to use conventional magical transportation means. Some of those invited were his teachers from Hogwarts, or members of the Order, members of the DA and their families, his parents-in-law and his six brothers-in-law with their own families, Dudley, Heather, young miss Rose and baby Jack, but also some of the families from the Family Liaison Project had come along to celebrate his birthday.

By five o'clock the party was in full swing. The birthday wishes had been outed, the cake had been cut and enjoyed, the presents unwrapped and everybody was enjoying themselves in the company of friends and family.

Harry was taking a tour of the place, finding quite a number of mums, especially the pregnant ones, in the relative quiet of the living room talking "shop" so to speak, as Harry picked up words like "labour pain" and "breastfeeding" and "changing diapers".

In the muggle gaming room he found Dudley and Dennis Creevey busily installing the newest game Dudley had created with the help of Dennis about a boy who discovered he was a wizard but had many tasks ahead before he could claim his rightful place among the other wizards. A lot of the elder kids would love to be able to have a go at it sometime later that evening.

Passing through the kitchen on his way out, he stopped to thank Dobby and Winky for the lovely cake but was quickly ushered out as they were busy preparing more food that would go with the barbecue a few of the muggle and muggleborn men had decided to gift. From the kitchen door he could just make out Arthur Weasley standing by Justin Finch-Fletchley and a few of the others bantering among themselves how best to barbecue. A few of the other dads and a few mums were keeping some of smaller of the many children occupied with a mix of muggle and wizarding games over on the other side of the garden, while yet another group were playing in the semi shallow pool. And of course there were also those you couldn't keep out of the sky. Ron, Charlie and Bill were supervising some of the smaller children who were either flying for the first time or were playing a simple game of tag but in the air and Harry couldn't help but laugh at the look of pure bliss he could see on the faces of both four year old Rose and his eighteen month old Jaimie ...

From his current vantage point he could see nothing but the laughing and smiling faces of the people he called friends and family and when Ginny, holding a beaming Jaimie in her arms, came up to him and nestled herself against him ...

Life was good.


End file.
